Last Thursday was national ‘unfriend’ day on Facebook, in the US at least.

Although instigated by a comic, the now annual event has gained some resonance.

I, for one, am old enough to recall the real meaning of the word “friend” and know that having any more than six real friends is a right pain.

Before email, mobiles and social networks, friends were really high maintenance.

Organising nights out, drinking with them on a regularl basis, then in later life, having them round for dinner, pretending you liked their new spouse and remembering the names of their kids etc. was a commitment best not duplicated above double figures.

I’d actually postulate that the number of real friends a person can maintain is a function of their liver’s capacity to regenerate. The average Facebooker has 130 ‘friends’ – which is clearly beyond the capacity or the any human renal organ.

Facebook knows this too and has created functions to allow us to separate friends, acquaintances and people we don’t actually recall meeting.

You can ‘unsubscribe’ people from your newsfeeds and effectively never hear from them again, save the embarrassment of ‘unfriending’. I call this “tidying up my Facebook newsfeed” which should indeed be an annual event for everyone.